A Flower A Day Keeps The Doctor Away
by AwesomePossum123
Summary: After Rose Tyler says good-bye to the Doctor, she thinks her life is over. Then, she gets a mysterious flower on her bed that can only be from one person: The Doctor. But how can he be messaging her from another universe? And will joining Torchwood make her forget about the Doctor and fall in love with someone else completely? Is there more to her new universe than meets the eye?
1. The Red Flower Of Love

Rose Tyler was unsure of what she was going to do with her life.

It was the night after she had said goodbye to the Doctor, her love who had whisked her away from her normal shop-girl life and shown her the stars. But now he was gone. So long ago, when she had met Sarah Jane Smith, the Doctor's former companion, Sarah Jane had told her the Doctor was worth the heart break. Now Rose was starting to debate that, because this heartbreak was _awful._ It was a thousand times worse than Jimmy Stone, the boy she had dated for a while and dropped out of school for before he became awful. But this didn't even compare to that. This was the Doctor, the most wonderful man in the universe.

And he was gone.

Jackie and Pete Tyler, her parents, did everything in their power to keep Rose happy. They bought her whatever she needed whenever she needed it, tried to get her a job or some friends, and Jackie even tried to hook her up with a cute boy at one point. Sadly, nothing would work. She needed the Doctor, Jackie and Pete knew that, though they just wouldn't accept it.

Rose sulked day after day, rarely leaving her family's flat. She usually just laid on her bed and stared up at the ceiling sadly, wishing that the beautiful sound of the TARDIS would ring in her ears, and her Time-Lord would come back to save her. But he never did.

* * *

"Rose, sweetheart," Jackie opened her daughter's bedroom door carefully, "I wanted to ask you something."

"Yes, Mum?" Rose propped herself up on her elbows like he used to do, and tried to look happy.

"There's an open job at Torchwood, you should apply. You'd like it, I bet," Jackie smiled sympathetically and looked at the picture of Rose and the Doctor that was on her daughter's nightstand. They were standing happily in Scotland, in the past, on the other world.

"I'll try it out," Rose promised, but knew deep down it wouldn't go anywhere. _Torchwood. _If she worked for Torchwood, she'd obviously be reminded of him day after day. Didn't her Mum know that?

Her mother left the room and Rose laid back down on her pink bed, staring back up at the empty ceiling. Someday he would come back. He wouldn't just give up, he was the Doctor. He never gave up. Although, maybe he had already found another companion, was already going on more adventures. Maybe he was back with Sarah Jane, or had picked up Reinette. Maybe even Jack.

'Jack', she thought. She'd never see Jack again.

* * *

Rose reluctantly walked to the Torchwood building, her father next to her, giving her advice for the job interview. Rose was wearing a formal light blue dress that fell all the way to her ankles, with lace at the top and bottom. She wore high heels that were taller than anything she was used to, and for the first time felt somewhat content in the new world. Maybe this Torchwood job could actually work out, maybe she could even use it to find the Doctor again.

"So, what makes you think you're qualified for this job, Ms. Tyler?" The man at the desk asked politely, knowing she was Pete Tyler's daughter. Of course she would get the bloody job, this interview was pointless. Pete Tyler's daughter could get the moon if she wanted.

Rose answered each question as best as she could, and shook hands with the man when the interview was over. Overall, it had gone fairly well, and the man seemed somewhat surprised at her knowledge of alien topics and her lack of self obsession. Although, she guess he would assume that someone as powerful as her would be self obsessed. She walked home by herself, staring up at the zeppelins in the air and sighing. If only the Doctor could see her now, would he want her to get a job, forget about him?

"Sweetheart!" Jackie was waiting by the door of the flat when Rose entered, and gave her a big tight hug, "How'd it go? Tell me all about it."

Her daughter happily described the interview to her, and forgot all about the Doctor for a while. Jackie hugged her again and told her she would most definitely get the job, and not just because of who her father was. After some tea and more talking, Rose went back to her bedroom and prepared herself for the night. After she had slipped on a comfortable T-Shirt and sweatpants, she was about to hop into bed when she noticed something strange on it.

It was a brown package.

There was no address on it, only her name, Rose Tyler. Rose ran her fingers over the brown cardboard and then walked downstairs to ask her Mum about it. Sadly, Jackie was already asleep, so Rose walked back to her bedroom quietly and grabbed some scissors to open the package. She sliced it open carefully, being sure not to hurt the contents of the package.

Mainly because she had recognized the handwriting.

Assuming that this was some mistake or some cruel trick, she pulled out the contents nonchalantly, only with the tiny insignifigant hope that this could actually be a message from the Doctor. Inside was a simple, single red rose. Although she searched madly for any note, any writing of any kind, there was none. Just the rose. Smiling at the strangeness of this package, she put it in a glass vase and went to bed.

* * *

The following morning, Rose's alarm clock went off and she dragged herself out of bed and downstairs for breakfast. Her mum was already awake and making pancakes, not noticing her. "Good morning," Rose said sleepily, sitting down at the kitchen table.

"Good morning, love, didn't see you there," Jackie replied, smiling.

Suddenly, Rose remembered what had happened last night. "Listen, Mum, did we get a package last night?"

"Not that I know of, I can check the mail again if you'd like, are you expecting something?"

"I found this package, on my bed, with my name on it," Rose admitted.

Jackie put down the kitchen supplies she was holding and turned to face Rose. "Did you open it?"

"There was a red rose inside, no note or anything. Just a red rose."

"Maybe you should have Torchwood check it out," Jackie said with obvious concern now written on her face, "Could be something dangerous."

"Listen... It was his handwriting," Rose whispered gently, the words paining her because of the fact that she could be wrong.

"Show me the package," Her mother demanded, sitting down at the table and gesturing towards the stairs.

She grabbed the cardboard package and the vase, and walked carefully down the stairs again, trying not to spill the water that was inside the vase. After she placed both the items on the table, Jackie carefully examined the rose first. "You know what a single red rose means, love?"

"What do you mean?" Rose replied.

"The meanings of roses. You can find them all online, I know because Pete accidentally gave me a black rose meaning death once," Jackie rolled her eyes.

"Well, what's a red rose mean?"

"It means 'I love you'."

Rose frowned as her mother put down the vase carefully and then looked at the cardboard box. Her mother's eyes widened signifigantly as she saw the writing on it. "What's wrong?" Rose asked, staring at her name written on the cardboard in the black marker.

"Rose, darling... This isn't..." Her mother shook her head in disbelief and stared into Rose's eyes.

"It isn't what, Mum?" She demanded, staring at the cardboard and not understanding what her mother meant.

"This isn't English. It's a bunch of circles."

* * *

**Author's Notes:** Hi guys! So, I posted this mainly just to see if there's any interest in this story. (If not, I won't continue it.) But I hope there is interest, because I think it'd be a super fun idea to write and I'm hoping you guys will enjoy this first chapter. :)


	2. A Bunch Of Circles

"Gallifreyan," Rose whispered, "It's written in Gallifreyan. Mum, that's his language. He's out there, Mum! He's here somewhere!" Rose's shock turned to excitement and she bounced up and down.

"Sweetheart..." Jackie began, not knowing how to phrase the words. Why did the Doctor have to come back into his daughter's life again? Wasn't one heartbreak enough? Mind him, this new version of himself wasn't so bad. But still, what was he thinking re-breaking her heart? Didn't the daft sod love her? "It might not be him. It could be a very rude prank."

"Mum, nobody knows his handwriting but me. I bet you and Dad don't even know it. Not to mention his language, I don't even know that! But the circles... I recognize them... Words that could burn stars, raise empires, and topple gods," She remembered him saying that once. Rose ran her hand over the circles that she could now see, since she concentrated very hard. Rose. That meant Rose, those beautiful circles. How it worked she would probably never know.

Unless he taught her.

"Topple gods? A bunch of circles could topple bloody gods? I'd love to meet them," Jackie muttered, watching as her daughter cherished the gift from the Doctor. Not from the Doctor, she reminded herself. The gift from... Whoever.

"How will I find him? I don't even know where to start..." Rose paced the room back and forth, her hands on her temples now, rolling lightly.

"Maybe Torchwood could help you," Her mother suggested. Anything to get Rose into the job.

"You're right! Torchwood! They work with alien stuff! But why didn't the Doctor just come and say something?" Rose sat back down and buried her face in her hands, bewaring the oncoming tears. "I'll go in first thing tomorrow and work on it! I'll find him, Mum, just you wait."

Rose marched back up to her bedroom and got into her bed, turning the lamp off. "I'll find you," She repeated quietly to the sky. "Doctor, I'll find you."

* * *

The following morning Rose's alarm beeped off and she whacked it with her hand sleepily until she remembered what was happening. She was going to find the Doctor again. Practically jumping out of bed, she quickly got dressed in a formal suit and ate half a bagel. Rose walked out of the door with confidence, picking up the suitcase she had packed with anything she might need for the day, and more. She was prepared for a zombie apocalypse, not just her first day at work. Anything could happen at Torchwood.

"Rose, darling, hello!" A man with a name-tag reading 'Hello! My name is Hunter.' said to her, smiling brightly. He was African-American with a nice gray suit on, and an army cut like her old Doctor used to have. Great. Her thoughts shifted back to the Doctor, as usual.

"Hello," Rose replied politely, shaking his hand. She had already put on her name tag, and the man seemed friendly enough. Not an alien, then. Blimey, not an alien? She had spent way too much time with the Doctor for that to be her first thought on Hunter.

"I'll be your advisor for the first week or two, but don't worry, all of it is pretty simple really. You're Pete's daughter, correctamundo?" Hunter said, smiling and walking forward, causing her to hurry after him.

The room they were in was large, about the size of a football field with high roofs. There were two floors, on the second floor a balcony surrounding the perimeter of the walls looked down on the first floor, and there was a large fountain in the middle of the bottom floor. The room was very well decorated, and it was blatantly obvious that this was the main hub. Several halls branched off of both the floors, and the one large door at the end of the room was hidden to look like a part of an average building in London. Some sort of perception filter, according to her father.

Hunter led her down the room, and they walked past hundreds of busy people with suitcases, on the phone not paying attention to where they were walking. They sat down at the edge of the fountain. "Yeah, Pete's my dad," Rose answered shyly. She didn't want a reputation for being his daughter here, if she could help it.

"Don't worry I'll keep it on the down-low," Hunter practically read her thoughts, "We have the children of many famous people here. It's a top-secret organization, but you know that, of course. You musn't tell anyone about this place, or you'll lose your job immediately."

"I know that. But I am curious, what exactly will I be doing here?"

"Well, what do you know about aliens? Ever had an encounter of any sort? Even the slightest one is a huge deal here, so don't be shy," He rested his suitcase next to him and stared at her expectingly.

So Pete hadn't told anyone here about the Doctor. Good. But what would she say? She probably knew more about aliens than anyone here. "Um... I don't exactly like to speak about it." She definitely wasn't lying with that statement, after all, she probably wouldn't be able to say his name.

"Ah, okay, that's fine too!" He said backing off immediately to her joy. "But, we have tons of different lines of work here. See, you probably won't believe this, but running through this earth is what we call a 'rift.' Basically, it's a tiny little gash in our universe. Certain things bleed through sometimes, and we just kind of make sure that it doesn't get public or cause a mess."

The Doctor had spoken of the rift in Cardiff many times, he used it to power up the TARDIS a lot. But, if things could bleed through... The Doctor's messages could, too? Then again, could the rift also place the message on her bed? What was doing this? Torchwood was obviously the best place to find out, and she would start by learning everything possible about that rift. "Interesting. Well, I do know a lot about aliens, different species and their defenses and all that."

"Great, good, that's fantastic," Hunter said. He was very positive about everything, Rose noted. She liked him. "Well, we do have a bit of a test for you if you'd like. Don't worry, you didn't have to study!" He joked, standing up and nodding her towards a hallway. "I'll take you there, it'll just tell us where you'd be best suited. Is that alright?"

"Sounds great," She smiled back brightly.

As she walked down the hallway towards the test she had one thought on her mind.

'Doctor, here I come.'


	3. The Orange Flower Of Desire

_Have you had experiences with un-earthlike creatures or events?_

Rose tapped her pen against her chin as she thought about possible answers. Yes, she could write, I have met tons of different species and know about the Shadow Proclamation, the Skasis Paradigm, Raxicoricofallipatorious, and more. Or she could simply tell a fake tale of one time when she met a Dalek. Eventually, though, she settled on saying she had seen the Slitheen, which wasn't a lie at all, and since then has scavenged the internet for information on any aliens.

_Do you have any medical training?_

At least that was an easy one.

There were several more basic questions after these, asking about her talents, intelligence, and even her creative side. After these questions, she performed several very strange tests which involved her staring at a light for an hour straight, being submerged underwater, turning in circles for five minutes, running around the building, and eating Lucky Charms cereal. Torchwood really had their act together.

Rose came home that night utterly exhausted (not to mention soaking wet), and was prepared to leap into bed, wearing the dress she was now, when she saw another package on her bed. She froze in her tracks, eyes fixated on the familiar brown package. All the way from here she could see her name, written in his absolutely beautiful language, clearly on the brown cardboard. Her breathe hitched in her throat and she forgot how to stand for a moment. Just a moment, suspended in time and space, she could picture him next to her. Holding her hand like he used to so often.

Unwillingly, her feet led her slowly towards the bed, and her numb arms picked up the package, breathing in the scent of it. The little scent of Doctor. Her long fingers slowly opened the package with ease, since there was no hard duct tape or anything of the sort. She realized she needed to release a breathe, but couldn't when she saw the inside of the package. There was an orange rose, beautiful and flawless, with a long green stem and two leaves. It was fresh, and smelled just as it should. She held it in her hands carefully, cradling it, afraid if she let go it would disappear. Her eyes flickered to her bedside table, where a tall water glass stood.

In the glass was the red flower from the day prior, still fresh as when she found it, of course. Rose set the orange flower next to it, and smiled for a minute as the two flowers sat in harmony. She placed the package on her desk and laid down in her bed, not bothering to get dressed.

* * *

The following morning, she walked down the stairs of her house to see her Mum in her pink bathrobe sipping a cup of tea. "Hi sweetheart, how'd you sleep?"

"I got another package," Rose replied simply, her expression unreadable, which was rare. Usually Rose was an open book to her mother.

"What was inside?" Her mum asked quietly, placing her tea cup down and staring at Rose curiously.

"An orange rose. What's it mean?"

"Orange roses mean desire, love. Desire," She repeated, "And enthusiasm."

"But how can he be sending them, Mum? How long will he send me flowers and not talk to me?" Tears welled in her eyes at the very thought of the Doctor outside her house, leaving her messages and flowers, but not actually wanting to speak to her. He always had a reason, even if it was a bloody awful one. What was his reason this time?

"I thought you were going to go to Torchwood to figure it out... Please, just try and get interested in Torchwood. It'd make your father and I very happy if you got a nice job and some nice friends."

Rose nodded slowly, not paying too much attention to the words. All she really wanted at the moment was comfort, comfort that only he could deliver. And a stupid rose a day wasn't going to suffice. However, she ignored her feelings and walked into Torchwood, completely ready to start her first day.

* * *

"Congratulations!" Hunter said happily, greeting her as she walked in, holding an intimidating stack of papers. "You're in direct alien confrontation! That's a super-fun heads-on job, you'll do fantastic, Rose!"

Rose smiled brightly, her thoughts still distracted. She followed Hunter politely as he led her to her new section. The hallway on the right side of the large hub, in the back, led to her small headquarters. There were several rooms down there, one of them being her office. It had a red velvety carpet covering the floor, with a fancy mahogany desk and a computer from a brand she didn't recognize on the top. There were cabinets and shelves scattered all over, and the room had one small chandelier. It seemed more like a ballroom than an office, but Rose wasn't complaining.

"So, you'll have three members of your small team. You probably saw their offices as you passed. We've got their files here," He gestured towards the large stack of papers and threw them on her desk, "Along with any other information you'll need. They'll show you the ropes, of course, but I'll still see you! Good luck!" Hunter smiled brightly and left her room, shutting the door quietly behind himself and walking away.

Rose thought it was a bit strange that he didn't say the names of her team, although with this many people working at Torchwood how could Hunter possibly remember all of their names? Unsure of what to do, she flipped quietly through the papers, skipping to the section about her team. As creepy as it was, reading about her new team-mates, it was rather interesting. The files knew every single recorded detail of their lives, right down to whether or not they snored in their sleep. She tried to match their names to the pictures of their faces, knowing it would be easier when she actually met them.

_Violet Flores_

Rose flipped through her file, nonchalantly, stopping to study the photo on the third page. Violet was a hispanic woman with long black hair down to her shoulders, and dazzlingly white teeth. Her smile looked friendly enough, but her eyes looked like they were ready to break your neck and hug you at the same time. She had a T-shirt on with a large necklace and huge hoop earrings to match. Apparently, Violet has worked for Torchwood for nine years now, and was the ultimate professional. Probably the leader of the group.

_Cameron Burns_

His file was next, and Rose blushed to herself when her eyes widened while looking at his picture. He was an incredibly handsome man, with short brown hair and large eyes. His complexion made him look like he was a teenager, but in reality he was twenty-three years old. Cameron has worked for Torchwood for two years now, and was only recently switched over to this team from another. He, unlike Violet, does snore. His facial expression revealed that he was probably a very happy and optimistic person, making Rose glad that she wouldn't have to work only with people like Violet.

_Finn Cunningham_

Finn was also handsome, surprisingly, but in a different way. His hair was a bit longer and black, and it was obvious that his eyes were green even though the picture was in very muted color. It was hard to tell a lot about him from his expression, unlike the other two. This was his third year at Torchwood and he was a professionally trained doctor, in more things than Rose could count. He was twenty five, the oldest of the group, and had a black belt in Tae Kwon Doe.

While she was skimming some of the other papers, she heard a knock at her office door, and her eyes flittered up. She wasn't expecting the visitor.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **Hope you enjoyed this chapter (on time, might I note)! Please review because it makes me smile to see you guys enjoying it! :) I hope you like the new characters, and they'll be introduced much better in the next chapter. (aka not just a file about them.)


	4. Lizard Creatures Aren't Cool

"Rose! How are you?" Pete Tyler said as he walked into Rose's office with a grin.

"Great so far, just got my job assignment," She replied happily, closing the folders in front of her and moving them to the side so she could see Pete clearly.

"I know, I just ran into Hunter. He's a nice bloke, isn't he? Gave me the forms on your assignment... You're squad #7673, just so you know. Violet is your leader. Cameron is a bit of a mischievous boy, he can pull it together when it's needed though. And like most Torchwood squads, you've got your Doctor, Finn. I'll try to pop in every once and a while to see how it's going, but overall they'll be in charge of you. Got it?"

Rose nodded, a little bored since Hunter told her most of the same things. She considered talking to Pete about the flowers for a moment, then decided it was best not to. He had always disliked the Doctor a bit. "Sounds good."

"Well... Um, listen, sweetheart..." Pete put his hand on the back of his neck and rubbed it awkwardly. "I know losing the Doctor was tough for you, but I do want you to give this a good shot, okay? I'm not asking you to forget about him, but..." He trailed off when he saw Rose's sad expression.

"I know what you mean. Bye, Pete," Rose attempted to smile a little bit, but the thought of the Doctor made it impossible. Pete left the room, not bothering to close the door behind him. His step-daughter buried her head in her hands and tried to move her thoughts away from the Doctor. "Maybe I'll go meet the team," She muttered a little, getting up from her new desk.

Rose's room was on the right at the end of the long hallway, and directly across from her was Cameron's office. At the very end of the hall was Violet's, and Finn's was directly to the left of Cameron's. She peered in the window of Cameron's office, but it was empty. After checking Finn's and seeing it was empty too, she tried Violet. Sure enough, Violet was in there, sitting at her desk, tapping her pen against her chin. Rose walked inside, awkwardly smiling, but Violet seemed to not notice her.

"Hello, I'm Rose," Rose said politely, approaching Violet's desk cautiously.

Violet raised her left hand and made a 'wait' gesture. After about twenty seconds, she lowered her hand and smiled at Rose happily. "Hi Rose, I'm Violet. Violet Flores. Nice to meet you," She extended her hand and Rose shook it. "Please, have a seat."

Rose sat at the chair on the side of Violet's desk that was facing the door. "I'm very excited to work for your team," She said as she examined the room. It was an exact replica of her own office, except, of course, the shelves and desk were more cluttered with forms and papers. As the leader of the group, Violet didn't seem very organized. Several papers were spilling out of the filing cabinets, and a few were on the ground. There was one photo frame on the desk, and although Rose couldn't see it too well from her position, it appeared to have a large family on it.

"We're excited to have you! We just found out yesterday we were getting a new member. It happens very rarely, we've been a team of three for a while now. But don't worry, we'll make you feel welcome. I don't believe Cameron and Finn are here yet..." She poked her phone screen a few times and frowned. "They're on a job, sorry."

"What's the job?" Rose asked out of pure curiosity.

"A few people around the area reported a strange man with snake-like features. And there have been a few deaths, so I sent the boys out there... You could go and meet up with them, if you'd like. Might be good for you to at least watch in."

"Do you not usually go on the missions?"

"I usually do... I'm just... A bit busy today, I suppose..." Violet replied quieter than she had been speaking before.

Rose nodded, curious about why Violet wasn't going on the mission, since obviously she was an awful liar. "Where are they?"

"Let me check." The woman replied, checking her phone. "Wait, this is a good time to give you your Egg."

"My what?"

"Oh, it's just a silly name that Cameron made up for it. It's actually called the LFACD. Location Finder and Communicative Device. But, well, I suppose it does look a bit like an egg," Violet smiled a little and reached into her desk drawer, pulling out a white egg-shaped device. She pulled half of the Egg off, revealing a screen and keyboard. "Keep it closed, the Egg shell is impenetrable. It'll only open to your touch or anyone on the team. It has got three functions. Location and communication, as you can tell by the name, and internet access if you need to look something up. Also, it does have little apps like a clock and the weather. Keep it with you at all times, we use them instead of phones or other things. Well, usually," Violet's eyes moved to her phone. "My Egg is being repaired."

"Thanks," Rose smiled, opening the communication app marked by a big 'C' on her Egg. It opened up to four contacts, Pete, Cameron, Finn, and Violet.

"We put Pete on there for you. Normally we put whoever is in charge of our sector specifically, but we know you're his daughter and all... Don't worry, it won't affect your reputation here."

"Great," She replied.

"Now, let's see if you're Torchwood material, find Cameron and Finn and go join them. That's your first mission. Good luck!"

Rose nodded and stood up, leaving Violet's office. She exited the Torchwood hub, holding her Egg close. Walking out onto the streets of London, she opened the Egg and clicked the Location button, marked by a large 'L.' Sure enough, four dots appeared. Pete and Violet were in the Torchwood hub while a little picture of Rose showed she was right outside it. Far away were photos of Finn and Cameron, right next to each other, moving at a fast pace. They were about nineteen blocks away, so Rose waved a cab over and hopped in. Suddenly, a message popped up on her Egg.

"Rose, I forgot to tell you. If you're going to use money on something for the job, such as a cab, just tell them you're from Torchwood. -V." The message read.

"I'm... From Torchwood," She told the old cab-driver unsurely.

The old man nodded quickly and sped down the road, "Where to?"

* * *

"LEFT!" Finn screamed at the top of his lungs at Cameron, who swerved the car to the left on the command. "RIGHT! RIGHT! TURN THE BLOODY RIGHT _NOW!_"

"I'M TRYING!" Cam screamed back from the driver's seat of the red car that was low to the ground without a roof. Finn stood on top of the back seat, holding onto a large pole sticking up from the car with his right arm and holding a giant gun with his left. Attached to his back was a bungee cord, for good measure.

"TRY HARDER! AND DON'T YOU _DARE_ GET A SCRATCH ON MY BABY!"

"DO YOU_ HAVE_ TO CALL YOUR CAR YOUR BABY YOU DAFT SOD?" Cam shouted at him, speeding down the London street that was cleared because of the alien.

"NOW ISN'T THE TIME FOR THIS!" Finn shot his gun three times at the direction of the alien who was chasing after them quickly. "SHOW ME YOUR BEST SMILE, SCALEY!"

Rose hopped out of her cab a few blocks away from the boys and sprinted to them, hearing the screams and sounds of a strange gun already. When she finally made it, she saw a red car swerving around the streets with two men on top, and a lizard chasing after them quickly.

"_WHO THE BLOODY HELL ARE YOU?_" Finn roared at her from on top of the car.

"What is it?!" Cameron asked his friend, straining his head to see Rose.

The lizard creature whipped its head to look at Rose curiously. It stopped sprinting after the car and ran in her direction instead. Rose slipped the Egg in her pocket and realized she didn't have a gun. She reached her hand into her back pocket and pulled out her pocket knife, which she always kept on her, and prepared to strike, seriously weaponed.

Cameron and Finn stopped their car and jumped out, running towards Rose. "SHOOT IT ALREADY!" Finn said to Cameron, passing the gun to him.

"DIE, BUG EATER!" Cameron stood still and fired three shots at the Lizard, who turned around to face him. The second shot hit, and the lizard fell to the ground.

Rose ducked to avoid the first shot, which had come dangerously close to her head. "Are _you two_ Cameron and Finn?"

The men stepped over the lizard's dead body and took a better look at Rose, who stood up again. "Woah," Cameron mumbled, his eyes widening at Rose.

"Ignore him," Finn said, "Yes. I'm Finn, this is Cameron. And you are?..."

"Rose, Rose Tyler. I'm on your team now," She smiled, extending her hand.

Finn reached out to shake it but Cameron knocked his hand out of the way and shook Rose's hand first. "Cameron Burns. Pleasure to meet you, miss Tyler. I must apologize, when I was informed we would be having a new member... Nobody told me the new member was so... Prepossessing."

"Prepossessing? Quite the vocabulary word, he must really like you," Finn smiled and Rose giggled. Cameron blushed brightly and kicked Finn in the shin.

"Ignore him," Cameron suggested. "Anyways... I can't believe they haven't given you a gun yet! Do they just expect us to save your ass ev-"

"_GET DOWN!_" Rose screamed suddenly, and Cameron and Finn obeyed immediately. Behind them was the lizard man, standing up, about to strike the two boys. Rose roughtly grabbed Cameron's gun from him and shot the lizard twice. It fell to the ground again and the men stood up in disbelief.

"Yeah. They should definitely give her a gun," Finn stated, staring at the lizard. "Now, let's get this back to the hub, I want to examine it."

* * *

**A/N:** Please review and tell me what you think!


	5. The Yellow Flower Of Remembrance

"Really, really interesting..." Finn mumbled as he looked over the lizard man's dead (They made sure it was dead this time) body. Rose and Cameron watched with interest as Finn pulled out a weird metal tool and prodded the body with it.

"That's disgusting," Rose groaned as its body ripped open.

"I'd look away, it only gets worse," Cameron warned her.

After Rose turned around and heard disturbing noises for several minutes, eventually Finn was done. They put the body in a white bag and placed it in a metal container, where Finn labeled it with a complex combination of numbers and letters. "Listen, I'm going to go take this down to the storage. Could you get Rose her gun, Cammy?"

"Sure, if you promise to never call me that again," He rolled his eyes at Finn and turned to Rose. "Let's go, sweetheart, I'll show you the way."

Rose raised an eyebrow at being called sweetheart but Cam just grinned. She followed him out of the lab and back into the large hub. "So have you seen lizards like that before?"

"Two other times in the past week alone we've seen them. It's funny, all the creatures that leak into the world follow patterns like that it seems. They all bleed through at the same time or once a year or whatever... But we do a pretty good job of keeping them quiet."

"Yeah, I could tell that when the entire area was abandoned and you guys were screaming at each other in a car swerving around the roads," She joked, doing her tongue-out-of-teeth smile. Then, for a second, she had a sudden realization. She hadn't done that smile since the Doctor had left.

"We call them scaleys, but the official name is-"

"Some form of homo-reptilia?" She interrupted, walking down a small hallway with Cam.

"How'd you know?" He stopped walking and looked her in the eye, a peak of curiosity in his expression.

"Um..." Never had she wanted more to be able to tell the truth. "Just a guess."

"No, it's not," Cameron chuckled a little and continued walking.

"What?"

"It's not a guess, you've heard about them, somewhere. Anyways, let's get you a gun."

Rose decided it was best to drop the topic when they walked into the Torchwood armory. It was another large underground room with weapons lining every wall top to bottom. Men and women walked around all over examining different weapons and talking amongst themselves, and the floor shifted from fancy wood to cold metal at the doorway to the room. Cameron walked in and turned to her, arms gesturing towards the magnificence of the armory. "Like what you see?"

"It's... Huge," Rose commented, staring around in wonder.

"Not the first time a beautiful woman has said that to me," He winked and she blushed bright red.

"Shut up and find me a gun," She sassed, nodding towards the wall.

"Yup. Not the first time someone has said that to me either. Alright, so, what kind of gun do you like? Normally we start you out with something pretty basic but it looks like you already know how to use a gun so... Maybe..." Cameron walked over to the wall to their right and picked up a gun that looked a little like an assault rifle, only a bit bigger. He handed it to Rose and she nodded her head.

"Fits pretty well."

"Nope, too heavy," He murmured to himself, putting it back. "Try this one."

* * *

After about two hours, Rose was exhausted and had a fitting gun. Cameron had been very picky about her weapon, putting it back even when she said it was perfect for her. However, she didn't doubt him and assumed he knew what he was doing. He had told her she could go home for the day and she thanked him and left Torchwood. At home she showered and changed into pajamas, not even bothering to talk to her Mum or Pete since she was too tired. The second she walked back into her bedroom, she noticed another package. With the same writing on it as previously.

Her feet moved her towards the bed and her entire body went numb as her hands lifted the package. Her eyes shifted to the vase on the nightstand with the other two flowers... Orange and red... What could be next? When the cardboard was opened, she pulled out a bright yellow rose. Yellow. What does yellow mean? She opened her nightstand drawer and pulled out her tiny laptop, opening up the screen and pulling up Google.

"Rose Color Meanings"

973,200 results.

As she searched the internet, she found that the meanings varied from website to website. However, as she researched the yellow rose, she came to one meaning that she knew was what he had intended.

'Remember me.'

* * *

"Another one? Really?" Jackie's eyes widened as she opened the door to Rose's room, seeing the vase with three roses now sitting in it.

"There's been one every day... What does he mean? Why won't he just talk to me, Mum?" Rose groaned, leaning back onto her bed and putting a pillow over her face to stop the oncoming tears.

"You know what yellow means, right?"

"It means remember me. I know, I Googled it. What if he's here, though? Watching me? And I'd never know..."

"Set up a camera in here or somethin'! Then you can catch whatever's puttin' it in here!"

Rose frowned and sat cross-legged on her bed. "You think I haven't considered that? But what if he doesn't show up after I put up the camera?... What if for some reason he wants to... Has to... Stay hidden?"

"Then he's an idiot! Set up a camera, come on, I've got a video recorder in my room, I'll be right back!" Jackie said, exiting the room.

After Jackie and Rose set up the camera in the corner of Rose's room, focused on her bed, Rose went off to work.

"Please, please work..." Rose mumbled, looking at the camera as she left her bedroom.

* * *

**A/N: **Please review! Sorry this chapter is a little late!


	6. The University Of Univeriso

Far away from the Torchwood hub is a man. He sits on a cold, hard floor, but he cannot feel it. Tears fall from his eyes and onto his body, but he cannot feel them. His mind focuses on his grief, over and over again, until he's completely consumed. He stands up from the floor and throws everything around him to the ground in a pitiless rage. Glass crashes and shards are scattered around where he steps on them.

"Not fair... Not fair... _NOT FAIR!_" The Doctor screams, falling on the shards of glass and holding his knees to his chest, eyes tightly screwed shut. "It's _never_ fair..."

* * *

"Awh... Now that's just not fair..." Finn whined as Rose and Cameron tossed his Egg back and forth over his head while he jumped pointlessly. "Give it!" He begged not unlike a five year-old.

Suddenly, in the midst of being tossed, the Egg buzzed and Cameron flicked it open. "Oh, a message. It from your girlfriend?"

"What girlfriend?" Finn snapped back, grabbing the Egg and reading. "It's from Violet."

"So it is from your girlfriend," Cam said, pointing his manic grin at Rose who giggled.

"I thought Torchwood would be a lot more serious than this," She noted, opening her own Egg and reading Violet's message which Finn had already forwarded to her.

"Oh, it is," Cameron explained, "We're just the fun side. Trust me, go somewhere else in this hub and you'll be with a bunch of stuck up snobs. Guaranteed."

"I believe you. Back in my un-" Rose stopped herself immediately, remembering that Cameron and Finn didn't know about her full background.

"Your what?" The two boys said simultaneously, looking up.

"Uh... My university. I went to... A er, university," She ran her hand through her hair nervously, a habit she had picked up from the Doctor.

"Oh, what university?"

"The university of... Univeriso. You wouldn't know it, it was a small place."

"Was?"

"Is, I meant is. Sorry, I'm just going to uh, go over... To my office," She said shyly, pointing towards her door and backing up into the wall next to her door. "Ow."

"But we have a job, did you read the message? Another scaley," Cameron said, staring at her curiously, as if trying to discover what she was hiding.

"Is Violet coming this time?" Rose asked them, trying to get off of the topic of her universe/university.

Finn gave a look to Cameron silently then looked back at Rose, "Er, no, she's not. Maybe next time. Anyways, let's go! My baby needs a spin anyways."

Rose was used to Finn calling his car his 'baby' by now. Honestly, it was a little creepy, the love he had for that vehicle. Whenever he wasn't sleeping, eating, or working, he was with the car. The three friends walked outside the Torchwood hub to the parking lot, Finn driving, Cameron standing up and holding a gun, and Rose sitting next to Finn tracking the lizard on her Egg.

For the entire duration of the lizard hunt, Rose didn't even give a thought to what would be on the camera back at her house. Although as soon as it was over, her thoughts drifted back to it. She was itching to get back home, even though working with Torchwood honestly wasn't as bad as she had expected it to be. For the second time, she killed the lizard creature by shooting it in the head. This time they kicked the body a few times to guarantee it was dead, as to not have a repeat of the previous time.

"Oh no no no be careful!" Finn exclaimed as Cam carelessly threw the lizard's body into the car.

"You can wash out lizard gunk. Probably," The other man returned, walking towards Rose. "Good job again, really glad we have you on the team." He stared down at his shirt and noticed the lizard slime all over him. "Want a hug?"

"Uh, I'll pass," Rose replied, backing away when Cameron tried to get closer to her. Suddenly, he started chasing her and Rose squealed, running in circles around the car while Cameron ran after her.

"Get a room you two," Finn said when Cam had finally caught Rose and she was squirming in his filth-covered arms.

"Oi!" She said, slipping away from Cam and jumping into the car.

* * *

Back at the Torchwood hub, it was still only 2:00. Rose was filling out more paperwork for her new position (it seemed like it would never end), when she got another message on the Egg.

'My office. -V.'

Rose got up and stretched a little, not used to working on paperwork for so long. She walked out the door and saw Cam and Finn leaving their offices to go to Violet's as well. They all walked in without a word and she looked up, feet on her desk and papers still scattered about. Her black hair was frizzy and she was wearing casual sweatpants with a T-shirt for a band Rose had never heard of. She looked a bit young for her age at the moment.

"Alright, listen you guys," Violet began, "There's some new activity from the rift. It's a pretty big spike in the graphs, and they sent two teams in there who haven't returned. Torchwood is getting a bit scared, so of course they call in the professionals." She said with a wink.

"7673 rules," Finn added.

"What's the threat?"

"No clue, the other teams didn't give in any data before, well, you know."

"We're on it," Cameron said confidently, turning around and exiting the office.

Unlike him, Rose and Finn thanked Violet first then left. They all hopped in the car, which had already been scrubbed free of lizard slime. How Finn had had the time to clean it, the other two had no idea. "You really should name your car," Rose suggested, breaking the awkward silence on the road.

"He does have a name for it," Cameron said, and Finn blushed a little, turning his head away from them.

"Shut up, no I don't."

"Go on, tell her Finny. I dare you."

"I don't have a name for her," Finn said defensively, keeping his eyes focused on the road.

"Ohhh. Her," Rose purred before bursting into laughter.

"In private he calls it 'sexy'," Cameron explained, laughing harder when Finn whacked him on the head.

But Rose wasn't laughing anymore. Painful flashbacks hit her hard, like a baseball bat to the head. Her eyes widened and her breaths got a little faster, and before she knew what was happening she was having a full-fledged panic attack. The Doctor with his TARDIS. The Doctor with Rose and his TARDIS. Them traveling together. Sarah Jane Smith and Rose talking about him stroking the TARDIS. Sarah Jane speaking about how the Doctor left her. The Doctor leaving Rose. Oh god, the Doctor, where was he? Why wasn't he here?

Cameron and Finn were still laughing for another minute before Cameron looked at Rose. "Rose, are you okay? Bloody hell Finn, stop the car. _Rose!_ Snap out of it!"

Where was the Doctor?

* * *

**A/N:** Reviews make me smileee. Sorry this is late, by the way, I had Homecoming yesterday! It was super fun! Anyways, next chapter you'll see what was on the camera. I promise. And just for the record, none of you have guessed it in the reviews. ;)


	7. The White Flower Of Humility

"We can't take her in, though. You know what they do," A voice over Rose said.

She could feel something cold pressed to her forehead, and a hand holding hers. If someone was holding her hand, that could only be one person. "Doctor?..." She groaned, trying to open her eyes but failing. A hand pushed her back down gently when she tried to sit up. "Doctor 'm okay..."

"Yes, I'm a doctor. What happened, Rose? Are you okay?" Finn asked her kindly. He had stopped the car in a small parking lot of a shop.

"Doctor? You're back?" Absent-mindedly she squeezed Cameron's hand and turned her head to see him.

"I don't know what happened to her," Finn mumbled, "Thought it was heat-stroke at first but it couldn't have been. Seemed like a triggered panic attack, I suppose, though I don't know what we said."

Rose eventually opened her eyes and was surprised to see Cameron and Finn there instead of her Doctor. She frowned a little, "Doctor?"

"I'm here, you alright?"

"Oh..." She looked around and noticed her surroundings, her thoughts and memories flooding back. "Yeah, I'm okay, let's keep going."

To her disappointment neither of the boys started the car again. "Did we say something?" Cameron asked, eyes full of concern.

"No, sorry to scare you both. Just... It's nothing."

Finn stared at her with an eyebrow raised, "We would've taken you to Torchwood but uh... They're a bit weird with any mental or physical complication. Especially something like that," He said, not sugar-coating it. "Wouldn't want you to get kicked out so soon, huh?"

Rose's hand went to her face and she felt the dried tears. She narrowed her eyebrows at nothing in particular as she tried to remember exactly what had triggered that random panic attack. Even when the Doctor had left her, she hadn't panicked that bad. Looking down at the car, the memory hit her like a slap to the face. Finn called his car sexy. The Doctor called his TARDIS sexy.

Now that just wasn't fair.

Her eyes flickered back up to see the boys were still staring at her blankly, probably waiting for her to pass out again. "I'm fine, seriously. Let's go."

Finn shrugged and hopped over a seat to get back to the steering wheel, casually plopping himself down. "Allons-y."

Now that _really _wasn't fair.

* * *

Jackie Tyler walked in circles around her kitchen, debating whether or not to check the camera now or wait until Rose got home. It was getting rather late, she considered, perhaps it wouldn't work if they checked the camera too late? Perhaps if she walked into Rose's room right now she would see the Doctor standing there, setting a rose on her bed? Jackie sat down at her kitchen table and buried her head in her hands. Oh, what was a mother to do? She could text Rose, possibly, but that would be a bit silly. Plus she already knew what Rose's answer would be. Her eyes glanced up at the clock and groaned.

**5:52p.m.**

Yesterday Rose had been home at about five, a bit early; Perhaps Torchwood jobs usually ran until seven. After getting up and pacing the room a few more times, Jackie sighed and walked up the stairs to Rose's room to check the camera. Just for a second, she reasoned with herself, if there's no package there then I'll leave right away.

* * *

"Please don't say that," Rose managed to gasp out in between heavy breaths. They weren't as heavy as before, but still not normal.

"Okay, don't worry, I won't say that," Finn's eyes widened and he jumped back over the seat to tend to Rose. "I'm really sorry. Let's talk about something else, alright?"

Cameron didn't say anything in risk of triggering something else or messing up Finn's practices. Sure, the guy was a complete idiot at most things, but when it came to being a doctor he knew what he was doing. Suddenly, his Egg buzzed and he flipped it open, quickly reading the message.

**Why did you guys stop? -V**

He quickly replied, vaguely explaining the situation in case the higher-ups of Torchwood read the message.

**Take your time. -V**

While Finn was still mumbling gentle words to Rose, Cameron silently showed him the messages. Finn nodded and spoke to Rose again, "Want to go get some chips real fast? Don't worry, it's cool with Violet and all them."

Rose nodded a little, wiping her tears away quickly with her sleeve. The car swerved back onto the road at lightning speed, going to the nearest restaurant. They walked inside and sat down, all three of them ordering chips. Rose silently prodded her chips with a fork and stared at them like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"Listen, Rose," Finn began, rubbing his hands together like he did when he was nervous. She had learned that from day one. "I know this is difficult for you, but what was the first trigger we said? I just want to know so I don't say it again. Okay?"

She nodded quickly, understanding what he meant. He was trying to say it as kindly as possible, but it still made her want to explode. "It was... Cam." Looking up at him, she was disgusted with herself to see his look of shame. "He said... Back in the car," Rose's voice cracked and she cleared her throat as non-chalantly as possible. "Um... He said 'in private you call it sexy.'"

Cameron shot a confused look to Finn who nodded understandingly. "Alright, we won't say it again, I promise. Do you want to talk about it?"

Rose considered for a moment then shook her head quickly, desperately trying to stop the tears falling from her eyes. "I'm really sorry for delaying our mission. Let's get going as soon as possible, okay? I'm ready to shoot some scaleys," She said with a sniffle.

"Go in the car and lay down while me and Cammy wait for the bill," Finn suggested, only it wasn't really a suggestion so much as an order.

Rose obeyed and walked out the door of the shop, still frantically wiping away tears.

As soon as she was gone, Cameron moved to sit across from Finn, staring at him. "What was that about?"

"Definitely a triggered panic-attack. She must have had an ex or something if the sexy thing set her off. And she got it again when I said allons-y. Maybe the boyfriend thing again?"

"She's a strange one. Remember that University of Universio bit? What was that all about?"

"I think she's hiding something," Finn mumbled, stabbing seven chips at once and stuffing them all into his mouth.

"If she is hiding something, she's honestly working at the right place."

"Amen."

"We could confront her," Cam suggested in between bites, "Tell her we looked up Universio and there's no such thing."

"Might set something else off. No matter what she's hiding Rose seems like a nice girl," The other boy replied, nodding to the waiter who handed him the bill. On the line where he was supposed to sign he simply wrote 'Torchwood' and set the bill back down. The waiter stopped by again and took the bill, reading the line and nodding.

* * *

Jackie peered into Rose's room and looked at the bed, prepared to slam the door shut quickly if nothing was there. However, on the bed lay a perfectly placed package with more Gallifreyan writing on it. "Bloody TARDIS translation whats-its." She picked up the package and shook it, opening it to reveal a white rose. Humility.

Her attention shifted to the camera that was still perfectly placed in the corner of the room. She took it off of its stand and cautiously carried it back to her own bedroom, terrified at what she would find. Plugging it into her computer, she considered what she would do if the Doctor was hiding somewhere in the house with a bunch of roses. Hiding in Rose's closet. She giggled a little at that thought before pulling up the recording. Fast-forwarding through the first bit since there was nothing happening, she slowed it down a little at 4:45p.m.

Nothing happened for a little while, and Jackie yawned, placing her head on her hand and fast-forwarding again. Suddenly, she saw a big blip on the screen and brought the film backwards. She paused at 5:00 and watched at 1.5x pace. Nothing happened for three minutes, but at 5:03 exactly, Jackie gasped. A bright blue light appeared on the bed and flashed, consuming the entire room in its illumination. Then, at 5:03 and six seconds, it was gone and the box was there.

The box had appeared with a flash and was gone in six seconds.

Only the bloody Doctor would work in such a mysterious way, Jackie decided.

* * *

**A/N:** I've been dying to write this so it was done by Monday! Please review and tell me what you think. I'm not sure how long this story will be at this point. Honestly, knowing me, it'll either be ten chapters or a hundred. Thanks for reading!


	8. Arresting A Certain Blonde Villian

"It'll probably be a long night," Cam said as he entered the car with Finn right behind him, "Are you sure you want to do this, Rose? It's no big deal to us if you go home now."

"No, I'm fine. I'm so sorry about earlier, I don't know what got over me..." She sniffled quietly and got up in her seat, buckling in.

Finn shared a look with Cameron before sitting next to Rose. "Do you want to talk about it? It may help."

Rose shook her head quickly and Finn nodded, getting into the driver's seat. "Alright, let's go b-" He began, then stopped himself quickly. "Let's go."

The rest of the car ride was silent.

Eventually they arrived at their destination, whatever their destination was supposed to _be. _A stereotypical horror-movie warehouse towered over the street of London, with a nice fast food restaurant and a hair-cuttery on either side. A metal fence surrounded the front of the warehouse, blocking the entrance from teenagers or wanderers. The three team members hopped out of the car and Finn locked it with a clicking sound. They approached the fence and examined it closely, noticing the bits of barbed wire on the top.

"Well, someone definitely didn't want people getting in," Rose murmured, toying with the lock on the fence. "Four digit passcode."

"Rose, Rose, Rose," Finn said in a teasing voice, "Let me show you how Torchwood does it."

Cameron smiled and pulled out a medium sized flamethrower, lighting it with a little switch and directing the flame at the fence, melting it quicker than Rose expected. "What, no lock-picking?" Rose joked.

Finn scoffed, "We can lock-pick. This is just more fun."

When the melted area of the fence was large enough for them to crawl through they entered the tiny courtyard in front of the warehouse door, careful not to touch the hot metal that remained. Rose approached the door first, the boys following her closely, and examined it. "Another four digit lock. Flame-thrower time again?"

"I just put it away," Cam whined, looking at the door. "Here, this is just wood." Raising his foot in the air, he kicked it down quickly and entered, gun raised. The three entered the house with their guns close to their chest and Finn made a sign to the two of them, raising a finger to his lips then cocking his head.

Cameron nodded, most likely indicating that they should be quiet, and they snuck up the stairs. The building was the height of a skyscraper but with an average width. It had a small foyer with an old, dusty sign-in desk and several hallways branching off. The stairs were directly in front of the entrance with a faded red carpet and broken wooden railing. Rose realized she had been wrong about it being a warehouse, it was obviously an office building of some sort. A posh one, at that. It barely looked raided, most of the items looked as if they had been left there just for the evening. A cup sat on the counter, stained with coffee inside and out, though none was in it. The windows were either boarded or too dusted up to see, and it was impossible to look in a spot without a bug. As for life signs, there were none whatsoever. No imprints on the carpet proved that anyone and been in the building for years, and every surface was covered completely in dust with no fingerprints.

As they walked up the stairs, Finn made several signs to Cam that Rose didn't understand. She would really have to get them to teach her them later. A stair creaked and they all instantly froze, raising their guns just a bit higher. While they slowly went up, Rose took the time to admire her own gun. It fit flawlessly in her hands, the trigger resting just against her index finger. After a few brief lessons from Cameron, she was a complete pro. Still, when he had told her that she would be an expert at shooting people, it had made her rather uncomfortable. The Doctor had definitely rubbed off on her more than she had originally suspected. When she was nervous, she caught herself tugging at her ear or scratching the back of her neck, and instantly stopped herself. The idea of it brought her to tears, and she wondered if she had made an impact on his large and significant life at all.

After she waved away these thoughts and sighed, she realized the boys were already two steps ahead of her and she caught up quickly. They made it to the second floor soon, and Cameron broke down the door just like he had the first one. The trio stormed inside, guns raised, and checked every single office cubicle. Some sticky notes were still set on computers and one monitor was even running an old Windows background. There was only the back row of cubicles to check now, but when Rose approached the one in the furthermost corner, blocked by a beam, she was shocked at what she saw.

A blonde man with a small, growing beard was relaxing casually in the chair with a cup of coffee. His eyes were shut as if asleep, and his computer was off but not dusty like the rest of the building. The cubicle was dust-free and a small nameplate rested next to the computer reading 'Peter T. York.' When Rose approached she aimed her gun at him and cocked it, causing Finn and Cameron to come running. "Put your hands in the air," Rose demanded quietly.

The man's eyes flashed open and he stared at Rose. His hand reached to set his coffee down, but the sudden movement caused her to click her gun again, prepared to shoot. "Woah there Rose, calm down. I'm just setting my coffee down."

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" She demanded. "Cameron, cuff him. Finn, check for others in the building. Be careful, yell if you find anything or message me. Go." Rose instantly took charge of the operation, glaring at the man named Peter.

"Oh, my name isn't Peter by the way!" The man said, as if reading her thoughts. "Just liked his cubicle. Nice and out of the way, don't you think? By the way, took you long enough to get here. I thought Torchwood was supposed to be full of professionals or something," He said in a sing-song voice, allowing himself to be cuffed roughly by Cameron. "You can call me the Master."

"I'd rather not," She replied coldly, lowering her gun when the man was safely restrained. "Now, who are you?"

"I told you, I'm the Master. I just need to talk to you, no need to be so rude and handcuff me," He directed this towards Cameron who gave him a mean glare.

"We're taking you back to the hub. You've got the right to remain silent. If you do say something, it can and will-"

"Oh, shut it," The Master chuckled and attempted to grab his coffee again before just ducking down and sipping it with his lips. "Give me five minutes alone with Rose, and I'll be off."

Rose rolled her eyes and replied, "He's staying. You can say whatever you need to say in front of him."

The Master's mouth twisted into a heavy frown as he contemplated Cameron for a minute before nodding. "Very well. I need to speak with you about the Doctor."

* * *

**A/N:** Oh how I love cliffhangers. I hope you didn't expect the Master. :) I know I already have the Master in my story 'Toying With A Time-Lord' but don't worry, as this Master will be a _much_ less evil version. Still crazy, of course, just... Less. Anyways, please review and tell me what you think! Who's leaving the roses? :O


	9. How The Heck Did You Get Here?

"You... What?" Rose's face paled instantly at the mention of his name and her gun fell by her side. Cameron reacted instantly, supporting her with one arm and training a gun in between the Master's eyes with the other. "No! Don't shoot him!" Rose said quickly. "Where is he?!"

A look of confusion ran over the Master's face. "You're not with him?"

"Where is he?!" She demanded again, yanking her arm away from Cameron and aiming her own gun at the Master's head. "The Doctor. What'd you do with him?"

The Master's carefree expression disappeared and true fear ran over him. "I don't know where he is! I was asking you! You're definitely Rose Tyler. I've seen you."

"When? When was the last time you saw him? And where?" Rage roared in Rose's eyes and Cam rested his hand on her shoulder.

"Rose, back down," Cam said quietly to her with as much seriousness as he could muster. It was strange hearing Cameron's voice in this tone since he was usually so silly or sarcastic.

She swallowed deeply and nodded, lowering her gun. "Listen... Peter, Master, whatever your name is... Where is he? Just... What do you know? Please tell me."

The Master nodded and began reciting his story.

* * *

**ONE WEEK AGO:**

Marching through the streets of London and gaining a few strange glares, the Master made his way towards the police box in the middle of the city. He looked down at his arm and saw the fresh cuts, blood flowing steadily from them. Groaning a little at the sight of his own blood, he knocked loudly on the police box. "Doctor! Doctor, open up!"

The doors didn't open, so he knocked again. At this time a small crowd asking if he needed help was beginning to form around him and he moaned, "Give me a break." Luckily, though, the doors opened and he jumped inside, slamming the door shut behind him. "Doctor! I need your help. It's the Master."

The Master closed his eyes quickly, trying to detect what time it was. Good, it was before the Valiant or any of that. The Doctor wouldn't have seen him in this form yet, wouldn't even know how he regenerated. He wandered about the TARDIS console room, and if he wasn't injured he would have considered hacking the technology or stealing a piece or two. The ship was trying to tell him something, that was obvious, but he wasn't listening. At the moment he just wanted the Doctor to fix him up, then he would leave quickly. After a few minutes and more grunts from pain, he marched down the hallway.

"Stupid humans and their stupid knives. I didn't _mean _to blow up that house..." He mumbled as he kicked open the Doctor's door.

His pupils dilated when he saw the Doctor's room. It was usually unused, the Master knew that simply from knowing the Doctor; however this room looked more like a teenage girl's bedroom after a rough break-up. The bed was messed up, with sheets all the way on the other side of the room. Ripped pictures were on the walls and the dresser was wide open, containing no clothes. The Doctor wasn't in the room, but when the Master got a closer look he noticed glass shards all over the ground, and blood scattered about. It wasn't the Master's dripping blood, that was for sure. Also, weird piles of cardboard were stacked everywhere along with a black Sharpie pen laying in the blood. He instantly ran to the Doctor's bathroom and kicked down the door, only to see that it was empty as well and completely normal except for blood in the sink and on a towel.

As he ran back down the TARDIS hallway, he hurriedly looked through door after door for the Time-Lord, mentally begging the TARDIS to assist him. Suddenly, he stopped. Was he seriously _worrying _about the Doctor's health and safety? No, of course he wasn't. He simply needed help with his own wounds. Speaking of his own wounds, the Master doubled over, clutching his cut chest. The injured man practically crawled to the medical bay and fixed himself up with some old remedies that only worked on Time-Lords. As soon as he was fixed, he hastily resumed his search for the Doctor.

To his dismay, the Doctor was nowhere in the TARDIS. The Master had even gone so far as to search for life signs on the TARDIS, only to see none. He checked the records and saw the last places the ship had visited. The two most recent spots were another spot in London, and 'The Powell Estate.' Curious, the Master maneuvered the ship to the Powell Estate, even though the TARDIS wasn't extremely thrilled about being flown by someone other than the Doctor. He stepped out onto the grass, looking up at the large building. He bumped into a woman on her way down the stairs of the building and asked her if she had a list of the residents of this place. The woman looked disgusted at his question and refused to give him the list.

Stupid humans.

After some simple brain-washing, the Master studied the list of residents closely. Rose Tyler. That name rung a bell, definitely. Wasn't she the Doctor's girlfriend or something? Shrugging, he took the elevator to Rose's floor and kicked open her door, entering the empty flat. It was completely abandoned, nothing packed into boxes or even picked up. Magazines lay on the table and perishable foods were rotted on the counter. Family photos showed that Rose and her mother had lived in the flat, however there was no sign of the Doctor being here recently. The Master smirked when he saw a photo of Rose and the Doctor in her bedroom, before walking to the corner and noticing a small silver flash drive. Out of pure curiosity, he convinced himself, he plugged the flash drive into the TARDIS and a hologram appeared.

"Yeah, see, you hit this button here," The Doctor grinned, pointing towards something in front of him. "See! We're recording a hologram!"

"So that's how you do those emergency protocols, yeah?" Rose looked up at him with a mix of admiration and love.

The Master chuckled a little at the hologram, the Doctor was so much like Theta in this moment it almost brought him to tears. No, not tears, that wasn't right.

"Hello! Rose and the Doctor here!" The Doctor grinned towards the Master, his hand floating towards Rose's and holding it so naturally it was as if he didn't even notice.

"And this is emergency protocol two thousand and fifty nine," Rose teased, sticking her tongue out of her teeth at him.

"I already have one of those! This is just, like, a home video," He chuckled.

The blonde girl laughed at this and ruffled his hair with one hand affectionately. "Isn't that a bit domestic?"

The Doctor faked a pout and stared at her, "Oi! This was your idea! You're the one who was like... Oh, Doctor," He imitated her badly, making the Master laugh even harder. "You looked so amazing in those holograms I saw of you. How can I make more so I can stare at you all the time forever?"

"I did not say that!"

"This is taking a lot of energy... Say bye to our viewers," He joked, pointing towards the Master, obviously not expecting anyone to be there.

"Bye viewers!" She said happily, walking away as the Doctor pushed some buttons, turning the hologram off.

* * *

The Master sighed, pulling out the flash drive and carefully setting it back in the Tyler's flat before going back into the TARDIS. "Ship, can you speak to me using a hologram?"

Rose appeared again, her expression solemn. "TARDIS interface enabled. Hello, Koschei."

"It's the Master, to you," The Master narrowed his eyebrows.

"Please state your question, Koschei."

Koschei put his hand on his face and rubbed, "You were more fun in the other hologram, Rose."

"I'm not Rose, I am a voice interface," The hologram Rose said, staring at him blankly.

"Yeah yeah. Can you give me someone else?"

The hologram shifted into the form of the Doctor. "Please state your question, Koschei."

"No, give me someone I like."

The hologram remained as the Doctor. "The voice interface represents someone you like. Please state your question, Koschei."

The Master blushed to himself, "What happened to Rose Tyler?"

"She is in an alternate universe. The void opened and the Daleks and Cybermen fell through, and Rose was sucked into the parallel universe never to return."

"You're just a bundle of joy. Where is the Doctor?"

"The Doctor's location cannot be disclosed."

* * *

**A/N:** Hopefully this clears a few things up! Though obviously it doesn't clear everything up. If I cleared everything up the story would be over. I'm thinking about posting this story on Saturdays and Tuesdays since I love writing it so much! It may not be every Tuesday but just the occasional two chapter a week thing. If anyone would like that. :)


	10. Officer Not-Manly-At-All

"So that's how I ended up here," The Master gestured towards his handcuffs to Cameron, "Can I get these off now?"

"Stop," Rose said sternly, eyeing the Master. "What do you mean that's how you ended up here? Traveling through parallel universes isn't possible."

The Time-Lord scoffed in reply. "It is if you're dedicated enough."

"So basically, you _don't_ know where he is?" Rose sighed, lowering her gun.

"No clue."

"And... You came here to look for him?"

"Yep."

"And... You can get me back there?"

The Master rolled his head back and twisted his mouth to the side. "I suppose..."

"Look, if I could get a word in," Cameron said suddenly, stepping forward into Rose's field of sight.

Rose's eyes widened as she remembered that Cam was there, and her gun clattered to the floor. She opened her mouth to talk, but before she could he continued. "What is going on? Who's the Doctor? Rose, how do you know this guy?" He nodded his head towards the Master, who was still struggling with his handcuffs.

"I just met him! And... The Doctor..." Rose shook her head, her voice trailing off. The idea of talking about him was too painful. "Peter, are you a Time-Lord?"

The Master groaned and rolled his eyes, "It's the Master, not Peter. And yes, I'm a Time-Lord."

"Can't you find him then?!" She yelled, hands clenching into fists. "Don't you have some technology that can find him for me? Because he's not here. And hold on, the Time-Lords are dead! Is this some stupid trick?! Have you been leaving the flowers?!"

Rose suddenly bent down and picked up her gun again, cocking it and stepping closer to the Master, holding the gun to his head. The Master raised his hands in defense again and raised his eyebrows, "Calm down! Ask me one question at a time!"

"Can you find him?" She hissed at the man.

"Well, obviously not since I'm here," The Master replied simply.

"How come you're not dead?"

He rubbed his forehead and sighed, "I survived the Time-War by transforming myself into a human."

Rose stepped closer, a defiant look on her face. "So you're not a Time-Lord?"

"I changed back. Look, that's a long story, do you want to find the stupid Doctor or not?"

Her mouth dropped open, "If he's so stupid why are you looking for him in the first place?!" She nudged him in the forehead threateningly with the gun. For a second she was shocked at herself, since when had she gotten so defensive of the Doctor? It wasn't like they had even ever really had a romantic relationship. God, maybe being here too long was causing her to already start to forget little things about him.

The Master backed away from the gun only to fall back into the cubicle chair. "Look, could you put that away? I'm not a threat, and I want to find him. Maybe not as badly as you, but I want to find him. I already told you my story."

Rose didn't move the gun, but Cameron came from behind her and snatched the gun out of her hand, putting it in his belt. "Rose, I want to know what's going on," He said softly.

"Have you been leaving the flowers?" She asked the Master next, ignoring her friend.

"What flowers?" The Master asked innocently.

"I've been getting flowers... I think they're from him."

The Time-Lord stopped to consider this for a second, his gaze floating to the wall to the left of Rose. He bit his lower lip a little and thought for a moment, before a smile grew on his face. "Flowers?" He began laughing uncontrollably, and it was only when Rose reached for her knife that he stopped. "Sorry, hold on. Flowers, let me guess, brown package? Your name on it? Probably in Gallifreyan?"

"Yes!" Rose said, shocked. "You've been leaving them? Oh you little fu-"

**CRASH!**

"CAM! ROSE!" Finn's voice screamed out from above them.

The two reacted instantly, Cam cuffing the Master's handcuffs to the desk and Rose sprinting up the stairs even though she was reluctant to leave the Master. They were two floors up from where they had been when they saw the open door, Finn struggling with someone in all black holding him, and worst of all a gun pressed to his left temple. "Lower your guns," The man in black had a masculine, deep voice and only his small, brown eyes, mouth, and tan nose were visible in his suit. Rose nodded and lowered the second gun she had pulled from her belt, placing it on the floor and raising her hands. "Get your friend," The man commanded.

"Cam! They have Finn! Come in here without a gun!" Rose yelled behind her, eyes focused on Finn. He appeared uninjured, with only a bead of sweat on his forehead and flushed cheeks as signs of what had happened.

Cameron walked in, hands mirroring Rose's, and stood next to her. "Let him go," He said, narrowing his eyebrows at the man in black.

"Where's the Master?" The man asked in return.

None of them answered, instead Cameron just turned to Rose and stared her in the eyes, asking a silent question. Rose swallowed, "What do you want him for?"

"I'm working for the Shadow Proclamation. He's guilty of several crimes across the universe, including treason, murder, rape, genocide, tor-"

Suddenly the Master walked into the room, twirling empty handcuffs around his right index finger. "Oh, can it. Show me your badge. And why are you dressed like a stereotypical ape robber?"

The man didn't move.

"Okay, here, pretty boy," The Master turned to Cameron. "Cuff me." Cameron reached for the handcuffs the Master was holding but he shook his head. "Not these cuffs, if buddy-boy over there really is from the Shadow Proclamation he won't trust these."

When the Master was well-restrained, Finn was released. Finn leaned against the wall, his breaths ragged and eyes shut. Rose ran over to him to support him by his arms, and carried him back over to where the scene between the man in black and the Master was going down. She had absolutely no idea what was going on, all she knew was she would die trying to see the Doctor again. She couldn't let the Master get shot, seeing as he was her only hope of seeing the Doctor again.

"I'm Officer Julie," The man removed his mask to reveal he had a semi-goatee and shortly trimmed straight brown hair. He raised a badge up and the Master stared at it curiously.

The Master chuckled, "Officer Julie? Not very manly, is it? God, I'm being arrested by Officer Julie. How terrifying."

Julie ignored his taunting. "You're under arrest for one-hundred and seven _known _offenses to the law. Please follow me for transport back to the Shadow Proclamation."

"Are you from the other universe? Or this one?"

"The other universe."

The Master looked at Rose then back at Julie. "Then you know of the Doctor?"

Julie's face grew solemn, "Yes, I know of him."

"Have you seen him recently? At all?" The Master asked instantly.

The look in the Master's eyes told Rose that he definitely cared for the Doctor, if not in a strange way. The way he had tried to act as if he really couldn't care less about the Doctor's safety, even though he had come all the way to another universe just to see if he was safe was unlike anything Rose had ever seen before. And she had seen a lot. Whenever the Doctor had spoken of the Time-War, even if it was brief, had told her that it had been devastating and he was the only survivor. Had he lied? Julie stared the Master straight in the eyes and sighed. "How long have you been in this universe?"

"Not very long. About," The Master checked his wrist but there was no watch there, "Oh, right, don't need a watch. About two hours or so. It took Rose and company long enough to get here."

"Well, I don't know what time period you were in in the other universe, but the Doctor is dead."

* * *

**A/N:** Hooray for more things that have to be explained! :) Sorry for there not being any flowers for these last few chapters, but I'm kind of trying to get into the big plot of the story.


	11. The Doctor's Death Note

Rose let go of Finn who could stand on his own now and walked in front of Julie. "What do you mean, he's dead? The Doctor isn't dead," She spat.

The Master placed a hand on Rose's shoulder, "Rose, it's very possible that he may be dead."

"He's not dead," She chuckled coldly, as if it was a joke. "I'd know if he was dead."

"That's a dumb ape- I mean human superstition that you'd know when the man you love is dead," The Master said to her before turning back to the Officer. "How'd he die?"

"Nobody's sure. He left a death note. Well, we're assuming it's a death note. It's in Gallifreyan, we can't read it. However our best translating machines _were _able to read a few words of it," Julie explained, reaching into his pocket.

Rose turned around quickly to see that Finn and Cameron were leaning against the door behind her, staring with their eyes wild with curiousity. Her face paled when she saw Julie produce a piece of paper from his pocket with Gallifreyan writing on it. It was a half-slip and torn in a few places, including a fairly large hole in the middle. She stared at it over the Master's shoulder when it was placed in front of him. The Master read the paper then looked up, but Rose continued staring at it.

"It's starting to translate to English..." She mumbled, frustrated. The English letters were just barely beginning to replace the Gallifreyan circles, but entire words would not form.

"The TARDIS translation circuits, they're not working?" The Master asked her.

"They don't work if the Doctor is out of the loop... Like a missing wire," Rose explained, squinting her eyes at the paper and getting closer. "I can see a few letters... I see my name."

"It's not a death note," The Time-Lord turned to Julie and grinned. "Your 'best translators' could use a little work."

Rose looked up at him. "Then what does it say?"

The Master cleared his throat and began to read the words on the note with ease.

_Dear Master,_

_If you're reading this, then you're with Rose Tyler. Keep her safe. The TARDIS let me know you would be coming. It probably won't do me any good to say this, but I should warn you anyways; don't come for me. Don't tell Rose that I wrote this, I'm trying to keep her safe. It's better that she never hears from me again than sees the..._

"A lot of it is torn apart, hold on," The Master mumbled. "Could you un-cuff me? I'd like to get a closer look at the paper without looking like a begging dog on my knees. Oh, okay, it continues here."

_Remember... Shadow Proc... I wish you the best of luck with this, and hope you won't publicize my location. Attached is the address at which I'm staying, only come if you or Rose is hurt. I apologize for the vagueness of this letter and can only hope you'll take into consideration the words above. Also note the address attached is in the regular universe, not Pete's world, since I can't go back there._

_Sincerely,_

_The Doctor_

"Rassilon, his stupid cursive is hard to read," The Master mumbled when he was done reading. "I had to guess a few of those words, since they were gone. But I think I got it mostly right."

Rose took a deep breath and stared at Julie, she whispered quietly, "Where's the attachment? There's only a paperclip on there."

"I don't know," Julie answered honestly. "So it's not a death note?"

"Not a death note. Just a letter to me. Shouldn't have even read it out loud to her," He gestured towards Rose.

Rose grabbed his arm and turned him towards her, "Look, Peter-"

The Master interrupted, "It's the Master, actually." He saw her look of anger and muttered, "Peter... Whatever."

"Look, Master, you're not going to hide any information from me, all right? Now, I need to know, that is _everything _you could decipher, right? Don't hide a thing from me," She said, staring him directly in the eyes.

He nodded in response without a moment's hesitation. Then he looked back at the note and asked Julie, "Where did you find this? We need to find the attachment to find where he is."

"It was mailed anonymously to our main base in the other universe. I can send you all the information we have on it, but it's not much."

Rose was about to speak but the Master continued, "Wait. When it was mailed to you, was the attachment there?"

Julie blinked several times before tugging at his shirt collar and clearing his throat. "The attachment was present on the paper, yes... It was also written in Gallifreyan."

It took Rose a moment to comprehend what the man had said. "You lost it?!"

"We may have... Er, misplaced..."

The Master took a step back as Rose approached Julie, now only inches away from his face. "You lost the only possible chance I had at getting back to him?! You're going to pay you filthy, stupid, und-"

"I think she may go on like this for a while," The Master whispered to Cameron and Finn, who were still watching the scene.

"What the hell is happening right now?" Finn asked without even looking at the Master.

The Time-Lord laughed, "Isn't it obvious? Rose is about to kick his butt."

"JERK!" Rose finished her speech and slapped the Officer square across the face. He clutched his cheek and made a tiny whimper at the impact.

"It wasn't my fault!" Julie insisted. "Taking a letter through parallel worlds is messy, parts of it were bound to go missing."

"Then why did you even take it?!" She spat at him.

"We needed the Master to translate it. And, well, he has a habit of getting away from us. We didn't want to take any risks."

"You know," The Master began. "You keep saying 'we', where is the rest of the Shadow Proccies? Am I that intimidating?"

Julie looked away. "Er... Well, the trip through worlds, like I said, is messy..."

Rose's eyes widened, "They're dead?!"

"Yes. That or lost throughout time and space. But, it is getting late here, what do you say we all get a good night's sleep and tomorrow we ca-" Julie smiled a little and tried to convince them, only to be cut off by Rose.

"You want to sleep?! I'm not sleeping when there's a chance that I could find the Doctor right now!" She exclaimed.

The Master sighed, "Rose, it _is_ late, and I'm exhausted. Traveling through parallel worlds is tiring."

"But, the Doctor is-"

"Oh, go to bed," The Master pulled a tiny syringe out of his pocket and put it into Rose's shoulder, causing her to slump unconscious in a few seconds.

Cameron caught her and pulled her into both his arms, carrying her wedding-style. "What did you give her?" He demanded to know.

"It'll just make her sleep for a while. Trust me, she wouldn't have gotten any rest otherwise. Now..." The Master looked at the Shadow Proclamation Officer. "I don't know about you, but I have no place to rest. Er, Cameron, was it? Do you know where Rose lives?"

"Uh... I'll drive you there, I guess..."

* * *

**A/N: **Hi guys! I understand that this story is starting to get a teensy bit confusing, so I'm going to put a short summary right here. I hope it helps anyone who may have questions about what is happening so far. :)

**Summary:**

The Doctor left Rose in 'Pete's World' a.k.a. a parallel world since he said he couldn't travel back there for her. Both of her parents, Pete and Jackie Tyler, live there with her, and she quickly becomes depressed because of the Doctor's absence. Soon she accepts a job at Torchwood, an institute that fights aliens that leak through the Rift, a crack between dimensions. At Torchwood she meets Cameron and Finn who are members of her team, along with Violet who is her quiet and mysterious team leader. Also, Rose discovers a brown package on her bed containing a single rose. On the outside of the package is her name written in Gallifreyan, a language only known by the Time-Lords. She suspects that the Doctor is leaving these flowers and continues her job at Torchwood while getting a mysterious flower a day. Her mother, Jackie, suggests they set up a camera to see how the package gets there, and when Jackie checks the footage she sees that the flowers appear with a flash of blue light. Rose doesn't see what was on the camera because she's busy at Torchwood, since there was a strange jump in rift activity. On the way to the source of the rift activity, she has triggered panic attacks because of things that Finn and Cameron say that remind her of the Doctor, like 'Allons-y' and 'I call her sexy.' When she and her team finally investigate the activity, she discovers the Master, an insane Time-Lord who is out searching for the Doctor as well. The Doctor and the Master are revealed to have a very strange relationship, in which the Master hates him yet looks for him because he is worried sick about the Doctor's welfare. Soon they find that another man also entered Pete's World, an officer from the Shadow Proclamation sent to hunt down the Master. The officer, Julie, has a note from the Doctor but can't translate it since it's written in Gallifreyan. The Master translates the bits and pieces from the note and informs them that the Doctor is gone and left Rose for her own good. However, pieces are missing from the note such as the Doctor's location. The Doctor begs the Master and Rose not to come looking for him unless there is a major emergency, though as soon as they find the missing location they plan to find him anyways.


End file.
